Albert Rutherford

inherent skill needed for critical thinking—asking questions. We need to be able to ask questions, sometimes very difficult ones that cause the personal evaluation of values

Emotions and "gut instincts" tend to guide us to conclusions that

part of critical thinking is being able to hold a well-reasoned, calm, intellectual debate.

Arguments from authority are the "because I said so" argument; the argument that just because someone is in charge, their argument is correct. This type of fallacy can also apply to people who seem believable just because they have traits perceived as positive; for example, "Shelly volunteers at a shelter and is a good person, therefore what she believes about organic food is right." The darkest side of this fallacy is often found in cults, where people fall prey to the tendency to believe people in authority who are charismatic. People evolved to want to exist in cohesive social groups where they can follow a leader. This respect helps keep society together, but it cannot override rational thinking

Readiness to Learn - This step is a personal assessment of where you are in the learning process. It requires the student to be honest with themselves about their shortcomings and be willing to take constructive feedback. Other indicators a student is up to the challenge of self-learning include developing autonomy, being organized, and having self-discipline.

Setting Goals for Learning – What’s the point of all this learning and what do you want to achieve with it? It’s absolutely critical the student and guiding instructor have mapped out the direction and desired of achievements of the learning experience. Questions regarding the feasibility of the desired learning as well as feedback and other policies should all be ironed out prior to the beginning of the learning experience.

Engagement in the Learning Process – In this step, students need to know who they are as a learner and what kind of approach they are taking to learning this new material. Is the student learning just for the sake of knowledge? If so, you would refer to this as the deep approach, learning for the sake of the knowledge.

Evaluate Learning – Now that you’ve engaged in all of this learning, how do you know if you really learned anything or not? Can you present information comfortably on what you’ve learned? Can you converse with other peers on the subject knowledgably and accept positive and critical feedback? What have you achieved in learning this information? Can I publish a journal article in a peer-reviewed journal about my findings, is the world better for my research, or does my research further inspire additional learning? These are all questions to consider when evaluating what you’ve learned independently, and it requires objective consideration.

you can separate your head from your heart, you will be able to take a step back from your emotions to resolve a situation in a way that is most advantageous for you.

you find yourself questioning why you think or perceive something and the only reason you can think of to justify that knowledge or perception is, “it’s how I was raised,” then push yourself to critically examine that part of yourself.